The $370 million staff-level agreement approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) affirms the economic record of the former NPP-led administration.
According to Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, the immediate past Finance Minister of the Nana Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Karaga Constituency and Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee.
In response to accusations made by the present administration, which is headed by President John Dramani Mahama, that the Nana Addo-led administration violated the IMF program and mishandled the economy, Dr. Amin Adam issued this statement.
In a statement released after the IMF staff-level agreement was approved, Dr. Adam denied assertions made by Dr. Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, the current finance minister, during the 2025 budget presentation that the NPP government had violated the IMF program by failing to meet important targets on inflation, payables, and primary fiscal balance.
The IMF’s agreement, according to Dr. Adam, shows that the majority of targets were reached, and the few indications that were missed did not amount to a program failure.
In contrast to the new government’s claim that the program had been violated and “the economy criminally mismanaged,” as the President of the Republic put it, the previous NPP government was vindicated by establishing a Staff Level Agreement.
During the 2025 budget presentation, Hon. Ato Forson, the Minister of Finance, stated that the previous government had violated the IMF program since it had failed to meet the main fiscal balance, payables, and inflation targets.
Since the new government made a concerted effort to communicate in support of its propaganda goal, the Staff Level Agreement has demonstrated that many of the targets had been accomplished and that the program could not collapse if these few targets were missed.
The IMF program’s fourth review is predicated on the economy’s performance as of the end of December 2024.
Therefore, the former NPP government’s economic success is solely responsible for the Staff Level Agreement on these performances.
Through the “Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies,” the present government has just recently concluded talks with the IMF on new policies that have not yet been put into effect, Dr. Adam added.
Consequently, he contended, the NDC administration was unable to take credit for the Staff-Level Agreement and the IMF Executive Board’s decision to approve it.
The IMF engagement under former President John Mahama in 2016 was compared to the present program by the former finance minister, who said that it had to be renegotiated because it did not meet almost all of the requirements.
Ghanaians will remember how President Mahama’s administration failed to meet nearly all of the goals set forth in an IMF agreement in 2016, which prompted a revision of the contract.
Since the existing program has not been renegotiated and is completely in line with its goals, the same cannot be said for it.
Dr. Adam reassured the public that the opposition would continue to keep the government responsible as Ghana awaits final confirmation of the Staff-Level Agreement by the IMF Executive Board, guaranteeing that the debt sustainability and economic advantages made as of the end of 2024 will not be jeopardized.
Dr. Adam emphasized that the Mahama-led administration’s policy initiatives had not yet been implemented and that the accomplishments noted in the IMF’s fourth review were due to the NPP’s management as of the end of 2024.
Source: newsthemegh.com